The Waters Family Has Been Grinched

I hope Carrie won't mind if I borrow the word she coined to describe someone or something that is trying to steal your Christmas spirit. The Waters family has most definitely been "grinched." Since the Friday before Christmas we have struggled with food poisoning, a sinus infection, pink eye, ear infection, another round of antibiotics for the first sinus infection, and one adult with a sinus infection- bah, humbug! Just kidding. With the exception of Jim we are all on antibiotics and eye drops and hopefully on the mend. So, if you haven't seen us around in a while its because we didn't want to share the funk with anybody. We will definitely be praying for a healthier new year.

Merry Christmas 2007

Christmas Eve Morning at The White House

No, we didn't have breakfast with President and Ms. Bush. :) Our precious friends the White's had us up for fun and food. Its always a good time. We love them so much and have been so blessed through the years by their friendship. Meredith has been through more with me than Im sure she cares to remember but she has loved me through it all-- they are a precious, precious family!!

Ralph made us some of his homemade chocolate chip pancakes and we talked, opened presents, and just enjoyed being together. We love you, White family!

From Food Poisoning to Fun

We started our weekend off with a bang. About 9:30pm Friday night, Avery got terribly sick and bless his heart was sick until about 4am Sat. morning. We stayed in all day Saturday to try and catch up on our missed night of sleep and to help Avery recover his strength and for most of the day Sunday. By Sunday mid-morning Avery was as good as new.

My friend Lori came up with a fabulous scheme. :) Several months ago I blogged about what high quality prizes you get for fundraising. Avery got a clown wig, glasses and nose for selling "smart cards". I put a picture of Jim (Harve) on my blog dressed as a clown. I e-mailed it to Lori. She decided how fun it would be to print this picture out and make all of us shirts -- we planned to meet at a restaurant wearing our shirts under our jackets and take our jackets off at one time surprising Jim wearing his clown picture.

Its amazing that between the two of us, Lori and I kept four boys 6 and under from blurting out the secret. It all worked out and Jim was very surprised. I sent him back to the car to get my purse I had conveniently forgotten and when he returned we were all sitting there with our Harvey (Jim) the clown shirts. We had our waitress take our picture to remember the occasion.

Then we were able to go back and visit with our good friends, Lori and her family. The only drawback was that Aidan was not feeling well and we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked. We love you guys!

We hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Ornaments Part 2

Christmas Cookie Ornaments Part I

This is so fun and so easy. This is our first year making Christmas Cookie Ornaments but I think judging by how much fun it was (and we haven't even gotten to the painting part), it will be a Christmas tradition.

Recipe for cookie dough

Mix together 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and 2 tbsp of vegetable oil

Slowly add 3/4 to 1 cup of water and stir and knead until you get the desired consistency.

(I only used 3/4 cup of water)

Roll your dough out thin and use cookie cutters or mold with hands to make shapes.

Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour. Time may vary depending on how thick your cookies are.

Let cool then paint and decorate as desired.

This recipe made about 24 cookies for us but I guess the size of the batch would depend on how big are your cookie cutters.

Here are our cookie ornaments- I'll try and post the finshed product too.

Christmas Break

Its 2:30 on the first day- well not really even a day- Avery had 1/2 a day of school- of Christmas break. We've already painted wooden snowmen, dipped pretzels in chocolate, and the boys have made a fort. I hope to help them make cookie dough ornaments tomorrow and I bought one of those boxed Make Your Own Gingerbread house kits. My boys have to be occupied or someone ends up doing something that could either cost a lot in home repair or require a visit to the ER.

If you all have planned some crafts or activities for your kiddos during this time, I would love to hear from you. So, what are you going to be doing during Christmas break?

Chocolate Covered Cherries

I think you either love 'em or hate 'em. I have to say I'm on the hate them end of the spectrum. I just can't get over that gooey, gloppy, creamy white stuff that's in the middle. Yuck!

But apparently a lot of people must love 'em. Everywhere I go, WalMart, Target, Kroger, etc there are what seems like thousands of boxes. And they never run out during the holidays. You never hear anyone say, "I went to the store to get a box of chocolate covered cherries and there wasn't one to be found."

I worked at Baskin Robbins all through high school. Baskin Robbins has flavors that are staple ones that remain all the year through but they also have what they call seasonal flavors. At the end of Thanksgiving, beginning of December, we would get Winter White Chocolate Ice Cream in-- and people would go crazy over that stuff. We could never keep it in stock no matter how much we ordered. It was white chocolate ice cream with chunks of chocolate covered cherries and a ribbon of that gooey, gloppy white creamy stuff that's inside chocolate covered cherries.(I think I'm describing this accurately- its been a few years- ha!)

So, back to my question... Chocolate covered cherries-- love 'em or hate 'em?

Mmmmmmmmm!!! Starbucks

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Starbucks. I especially love Starbucks at the holidays. From their scrumptious Pumpkin Spice Latte to their Peppermint Mocha- their holiday coffees are the best-- ok their year round coffees are the best too. :) But there is something about that Starbucks holiday cup-- don't you think? That holiday themed cup just makes your coffee a little better.

Yesterday I had a Peppermint WHITE Chocolate Mocha for the first time. If you like the Peppermint Mocha and haven't tried the white chocolate, definitely try it. It was yummy!

Does it get any better than a great cup of coffee and good conversation with a friend? Maybe next time I can get you to try the Mocha, Lori. :)

An Early Christmas in North Carolina

We packed up the car and made the trek to North Carolina this weekend. Jim's family got together for an early Christmas. It was a fun trip. Merry Christmas Papa and Memaw and the whole NC and SC family.

Aidan had a little singing presentation at his Mothers Day Out Friday. It was so cute. They sang Christmas songs and played rhythm instruments. Here are a few pictures including some of Aidan standing by who has become his favorite friend in the class- Miss Mary.

Memorable Christmas Presents

I decided to use the word memorable in my title rather than favorite. Lets face it some gifts can be memorable and way far from your favorite. :) I was just thinking about this the other day. My neighbor made some questions for our ladies get together and as an ice breaker we drew a question out of the basket and answered it. One was, "What's your most memorable Christmas gift?" I have several- some good and some, well lets just say its not the gift but the spirit of giving...

My brother and I got an Atari 2600- we played that thing all day Christmas day. I remember the games like Pong but my favorite one was E.T. Did anyone else have this one? You had to find all of the phone parts so ET could phone home- and you ate Reeses pieces for energy along the way.

The year the cabbage patch babies were all the craze I got my own version of a cabbage patch baby made by my mom's friend. My cousins all got one too- we opened them together at granny's house and each of them had our own color hair. We didn't care that they weren't brand name-- just excited to have it and that we all got one to play with together.

When I was 14 I got a typewriter (I so know I'm showing my age with this post)-- yeah a typewriter. I did ask for it but you know its one of those things you ask for but not something you want for Christmas.

We exchanged gifts in our girl scout troop one year- I think we drew names. Anyway, I got a box of chocolate covered cherries- again this was a reminder that its not the gift but the spirit of giving...

When we were first married and our budget very tight, my mom got Jim and me tires for our car for Christmas.

A couple of years ago my boys (all three of them) got me a beautiful silver cross necklace.

One year in my stocking Jim had placed tickets to see Rent at TPAC.

My list is too long to post here. I have lots of memorable gifts.. good, bad, and bizarre. :) Do you have some memorable gifts?

Ladies Time of Fun and Fellowship

My neighbor and I have had a little Ladies get together now for the past three years. We have the ladies from the neighborhood combined with some of my neighbor's friends and some of mine. Its always so much fun and all of the ladies are so special to us. Its just a fun time to eat, talk and of course play some games. Thanks ladies for coming- I enjoyed it so much!!

The Ghosts of Christmas Past

The holidays have for a long time been a season of remembrance for me. Seems like there are always so many things I see, hear, or do that remind me of my loved ones that have passed. My dad and my grandmother have been gone for 12 years, my grandfather and my aunt for 2, and my mother for almost a year. Thanksgiving and Christmas especially bring flooding back all of those memories of the times we shared.

I made a huge pot of vegetable soup last night (it was my first attempt at homemade soup) and while I am not a great cook- it was some soup my mother would have been proud of. She made the best vegetable soup and the best chili.

My aunt (my mom's sister) is having a little family get together for Christmas and we aren't sure who's coming and who's not so I bought some 'extra" gifts to have on hand just in case someone shows that we weren't expecting. Last night on the phone my aunt reminded me that my grandmother, Granny Wright always did that too.

I passed the icicles (you know those gaudy plastic feeling strands you could just glop on your tree-I didn't think they sold those anymore but they do)) in a store today and I remembered how much my daddy loved that part of decorating our tree-- and how much he hated trying to pull them off when we took our tree down. :)

I made some peanut butter and crackers and dipped them in that melted chocolate almond bark and remembered how my momma would make a crazy amount of these and we'd be eating them forever.

My aunt gave me my first set of diamond earrings for Christmas when I was 7- I saw them in my jewelry box a few days ago.

I remember Santa Claus had to come to our house early in the evening of the 24th (while we were at my grandparents) because my daddy had to work every Christmas morning and he wanted to be there when we saw what Santa had brought us.

My momma would spend the night every Christmas eve after we had Avery so that she could see Avery and then Aidan on Christmas morning.

Aidan's mothers day out teacher made him an advent calendar counting down to the 25th by removing tootsie rolls each day. I remember the ones my mom made for my brother and me with what looks like that same green felt background and red yarn- she put mini candy canes on ours to countdown.

At Kohls they have a Christmas CD featuring Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby singing the Christmas classics. I remember my daddy singing and his sweet smile when I listen to it.

I could go on and on. This Christmas is painful and more times than I care to admit, I find myself fighting back tears. I ache to hug my daddy and how I'd love to go to my Granddaddy and Granny Wright's for Christmas Eve. And sometimes when I get up in the middle of the night I can still see my momma sitting in her wheelchair in front of the kitchen door. Sometimes its overwhelming and I hurt for precious Avery and Aidan who miss their Nana so much.

So I have myself a good long therapeutic cry and then I hear what I can only believe is God whispering to me. I picture my mom and dad, Granny, Grandaddy and Aunt Faye together with Jesus and how amazing it must be to get to spend Christmas with HIM- to get to spend eternity with HIM.